Lawyers of North Carolina

Selected Climbs in North Carolina

Description

Don't think of North Carolina for a climbing destination? Think again. Located in the southern Appalachians, intimidating granite domes, steep quartzite walls, and a variety of terrain offering short and long climbs will whet the appetites of beginning to more advanced climbers.

The 10 climbing areas are organized into three geographical regions: Piedmont including Moore's Wall; Stone Mountain; Crowders Mountain; the Northern Blue Ridge covering the infamous Linville Gorge-often referred to as the Grand Canyon of North Carolina; Ship Rock; and the Southern Blue Ridge with Looking Glass, Rumbling Bald, Cedar Rock, Big Green, and Whiteside Mountain.

Yon Lambert has spent more than a decade climbing in the Appalachian Mountains and across the U.S. As a freelance writer, his articles have appeared in many publications including The Washington Post and Climbing magazine. He is also the assistant director of Palmetto Conservation Foundation, a nonprofit conservation group in South Carolina. Harrison Shull has climbed extensively in the U.S. and spent six years living and working at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia as a climbing guide. He moved to Asheville in 1998 where his work as a freelance photographer specializing in outdoor adventure sports allows him plenty of time to be out in the North Carolina woods.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2006-03-01
Summary: "Great Climbing Resource"

This is an excellent climbing guide. It includes details for many important routes, and other climbs that are not described are still included on the topos. Lots of good history for the areas as well.

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Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2004-10-26
Summary: "Frustrating as a guidebook"

North Carolina is a great climbing destination with a rich tradition of routes - both bold multipitch trad ascents, as well as technical and pumpy sport routes. Yon Lambert does cover most (if not all) the major climbing areas, but falls short of making it easy for the climber to locate the right climbs. The problem is that unlike most rock climbing guidebooks, this one does not specify the individual climbs into "Sport", "Trad" and "Mixed" categories. It leaves the climb to the guesswork of the reader/climber. I'm a sport climber and don't possess any trad gear. This book makes it difficult for people like me to confidently start climbs where we may run into sections that need trad protection - dangerous when we aren't carrying any. However lack of other complete guidebooks for NC means that I do end up using this one a lot.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2002-08-26
Summary: "Selected Climbs in North Carolina"

This book was an excellent guide to many of the lesser known (and a good resource for the better-known) climbs in North Carolina. The breathtaking photography features the actual climbs and many of the local celebs of the North Carolina climbing community. Mr. Lambert provides interesting, yet informative text that does not get bogged down in climbing lingo. It is clean and precise, but does not fall into the trap of many guide books - boring. It is obvious that he has spent considerable time hanging from the climbs featured. The only complaint is that there is not yet a similar book for South Carolina mountains.